So I've returned from a short visit to the bay area with a renewed sense of purpose. Or something like that. We left on Tuesday afternoon rolling into Jennifer and Tim's just in time for Book Club. That was a lot of fun and it was nice to see everyone again after our 6 month absence. We were picking books for the upcoming 9 months or so and they agreed that Kevin and I could maintain our places as Remote Members, perhaps trying a conference call next month and coming up every few months or so to participate in person.
Wednesday Hai-Nhu came down from San Francisco to meet us in Palo Alto for dinner. It was a comedy of sorts. Kevin took Caltrain up from Adobe while Dorothy and I drove, all converging on Zao restaurant...which was closed. Kevin arrived first and waited around. There was another guy standing there too, as if waiting for someone, and Kevin asked, "Are you a friend of Dorothy's?" Nope, but he was in the same situation--supposed to meet someone there for dinner only to find it closed. Dot and I arrived and we stood wondering what to do and waiting for Hai-Nhu, who shortly drove up the other side of the street. "It's closed!" we shouted. "We're going to Pluto's!" "Where's Pluto's?" Hai-Nhu screams back, trying to drive slowly. "It's that way! By Borders!" After this little interaction another woman standing near us said "I'm in the same situation. I was supposed to meet someone here and if it doesn't open in 1/2 an hour, I don't know what I'm going to do." The sign on the door said they were supposed to reopen on August 12th--and it was August 11th. Pretty funny.
Anyway, I went through a round of appointments. Got my hair cut, saw 3 different doctors (well, actually 4 but two were in one visit), got good news all around. My heart is doing really well. My ICD has been completely dormant. I'm only averaging 7 PVCs a day (a huge improvement). Mental health is good. I got referrals for doctors in LA, and all looks good.
I also got to meet an Internet friend. I'm on a discussion board for people with ICDs and Guin also goes to Stanford for her care. She met me for lunch in between two of my appointments and it was really a lot of fun to meet her in person and talk tech speak (we were talking about bad doctors who ignore symptoms and blow people off and our conversation sounded like, "...so it turns out he had Marfan's!" "No way! He was having an aortic dissection* and they let him go?"). We had a great time.
Now it's back to househunting. Still coming up with many possibilities on the web and we plan to go out tomorrow and Sunday to check things out again.
Marfan Syndrome is a disease of the connective tissue that affects the heart. An aortic dissection is where the aorta literally splits apart. It is extremely painful and 100% fatal if not treated within hours by open heart surgery. The guy in question survived after being blown off by two rural ERs and finally coming to Stanford.
Posted by Shelby at August 13, 2004 02:25 PM